As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An information handling system may have a network interface or other input/output (I/O) interface configured to receive an optical transceiver module (e.g., a small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver or a quad small form-factor pluggable (QSFP) transceiver of any I/O speed). Such transceiver modules often plug into “cages” disposed on an I/O interface card, which often reside in the rear of the information handling system in which hot air (e.g., at 55° C. to 65° C.) is exhausting from the system. Such temperatures are often near the upper limit of temperature requirements of optical transceiver modules.
In an attempt to reduce temperatures within optical transceiver modules, heatsinks have been implemented in fixed locations on cages disposed on I/O interface cards and configured to receive the optical transceiver modules. However, because such transceivers are removable, existing approaches have limitations. For example, inserting and removing a transceiver may tend to displace and remove any thermal interface material that has been applied between the transceiver and a heatsink, reducing the effectiveness of the heatsink.
Further, a transceiver resides in a connector cage which may act as an air shield that prevents effective cooling of the transceiver. The gap between the cage and the transceiver adds extra thermal resistance for heat removal.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved way of coupling a heatsink (or other type of heat-rejecting media) to a transceiver. Effectively removing heat from a transceiver may reduce thermal design complexity and lower the power consumption of fans or other components of the cooling system.
It should be noted that the discussion of a technique in the Background section of this disclosure does not constitute an admission of prior-art status. No such admissions are made herein, unless clearly and unambiguously identified as such.